Introducing Komodo 11

5/29/2017 – The latest and greatest chess engine is here, Komodo 11, helping chess players analyze and understand games and positions with ever greater skill and knowledge. That said, while there is no question the engine is an essential part of the equation, when you buy Komodo 11 at Chessbase, you get a series of other benefits such as a 6-month Premium subscription to ChessBase Account. Learn what’s new in Komodo 11 and why you should not delay in adding it to your stable.

The first thing to take note of, as odd as it might seem, is the actual version number. The reason is that users will not only know that they are in the presence of an engine that has been worked on for 11 full releases, but that even after such a long track record, it is still at the pinnacle of chess engines. This is no mean feat, and is not to be underestimated. Keeping an engine such as Komodo at the very top, requires enormous work, dedication and ingenuity.

The result is what you now have, an engine that continuously challenges its own limits, seeking to improve, even when many of those improvements are subtle things that may never be seen. However, it also means an improvement in the quality of its analysis and improved productivity for the user.

Although there is a distinct Elo gain in strength, as is to be expected, that Elo is not merely a foot pressed on the accelerator, and is the result of hundreds of small improvements that have made their way into the engine’s code. 230 to be exact since Komodo 10, according to Mark Lefler, the chief programmer, now teamed up with GM Larry Kaufman.

Let’s start with actual engine features that users can play around with. The engine’s configuration has been enriched with a slew of new options to change the engine’s behavior, but without hamstringing its strength.

Variety: allows Komodo to play with more variety and choose different moves without a big Elo reduction

Smart Syzygy: allows use of 6 piece Syzygy even on machines with hard drives. This is not insignificant, since 6-piece tablebases are as much a boon as a curse when used with a classic hard drive. On the one hand they offer absolute evaluations and moves, but on the other, the number of searches can cause the hard drive to spin endlessly and bring the analysis speed to its knees. Ideally, they should be used from either an SSD drive or a pen drive, but if that is not an option, then Smart Syzygy is a partial solution.

A glance at the new engine settings for Komodo 11

Among the improvements brought to the engine itself, here are a few:

many speedups

improved king safety

entirely new material imbalance system

better move ordering

better Selectivity

improved multi-processor search

better time management

better evaluation of bishop and knight mobility

improved handling of under promotions

better understanding of bishops of opposite colors

better evaluation of pinned pieces

better handling of advanced pawns

better understanding of drawish endgames

better understanding of wing pawns

better understanding of bishop and castled kings

Needless to say, this is all just in the engine, but when you buy Komodo 11, you are also getting a top-of-the-line interface, which brings an amazing array of analytical tools, including the Live Book, which not only brings full stats and analysis on moves in the opening, but countless unplayed novelties, fully analyzed, just waiting to be unleashed.

There is also a solid working database and Opening book, and last, but definitely not least: a 6-month subscription to ChessBase Account with all the features that entails, such as the Cloud Database, the Video Archive, the Tactics Trainer, and of course complete access to Playchess, to name a few.

Albert SilverBorn in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications.

See also

12/22/2017 – Other chess reviewers have been at best dismissal and at worst harshly critical of The Secret of Chess, by Lyudmil Tsvetkov. However, according to GM David Smerdon, this book is a one of a kind work that legitimately has the potential to revolutionise how we think about chess. | Photo: Smerdon at the Tromsø Chess Olympiad, by Andreas Kontokanis CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

See also

10/18/2017 – Houdini 6 continues where its predecessor left off, and adds solid 60 Elo points to this formidable engine, once again making Houdini the strongest chess program currently available on the market. Read the details.

Video

On this 60 mins video we are going to concentrate on a simple, very solid idea in the main line Scandinavian, which even Magnus Carlsen has used to win games. Black focusses on making his life easy in the opening and forces White to work very hard to get advantage – but it is doubtful if White can get an advantage. Club players are always on the lookout for effective, time-saving solutions and here we have just that. Accompany FIDE Senior Trainer and IM Andrew Martin on this 60 mins video. You can learn a new opening system in 60 mins and start to play it with confidence on the very same day!

Discuss

yes this is very bad from chessbase you get no updates you not get komodo 11.2.

no upades of komodo 11 :( its waste of money :(

tom_70 6/4/2017 07:45

@Phoenician

It doesn't matter and hasn't mattered in many years. All computers programs easily dispose of us humans.

Bertman 6/1/2017 07:40

@MrTM - I will be posting a large article on the recent AlphaGo match and will indeed cover the state of software.

vikas2200 5/31/2017 04:57

As per https://chessprogramming.wikispaces.com/Komodo site:

On May 23, 2017, Komodo 11.01 was released, which corrected some minor issues of Komodo 11, which was already released by ChessBase a few days before.

Does Chessbase is selling 11 or 11.01 version?

drcloak 5/31/2017 03:07

@phoenician

Its just bragging rights and selling points for marketing.

phoenician 5/31/2017 12:02

To a non-master, what difference does it really make to have an engine that's a few ELO points stronger?

Mr TambourineMan 5/30/2017 11:47

Hi Albert! I see in the videos you are learning go! Me too, and as a matter of fact I would rater have an infotainment about what go programs to buy. Can you please do that Albert? Its a matter of Life and Death...

Bertman 5/30/2017 10:14

@RayLopez Oh, I don't now.... richer openings research? Alternate plans and play in a position you are studying? On the otherhand, I cannot even begin to image how cheating would benefit from it. There are hundreds of chess engines you know. If variety were somehow a key to cheating, there was no need to wait for this setting. Just install one of the myriad other engines.

RayLopez 5/30/2017 05:53

@Rama - see the computer chess CCRL 40/40 list or the CCRL 40/4 list (nearly the same, chess engines are optimized for blitz and run about as strong in blitz as in longer time controls) for a list of Elos by chess engine, from which you can deduce the probability one engine will beat another. From the CCRL site and using Arena chess interface you can also pick a weak engine that you can train against. Of interest to chess computer cheaters is this statement in Komodo: "Variety: allows Komodo to play with more variety and choose different moves without a big Elo reduction". What is the purpose of this feature other than for cheating?

trill 5/30/2017 01:37

Bravo!

Your comment about providing an upgrade is spot on.

Your excellent suggestion should be a requirement and not just a suggestion.

Rama 5/30/2017 01:32

I would like to see Komodo play a 40 game match against a comparable engine.

Keith Homeyard 5/30/2017 11:54

It would be very good if chess engines provided upgrade facilities as ChessBase does.Buying a new engine every year is over the top for most amateurs.